1. Field
The disclosed embodiments relate to antennas in portable electronic devices. More specifically, the disclosed embodiments relate to techniques for facilitating switches between transmitting antennas in portable electronic devices.
2. Related Art
Recent improvements in computing power and wireless networking technology have significantly increased the capabilities of portable electronic devices. For example, laptop computers, tablet computers, portable media players, smartphones, and/or other modern computing devices are typically equipped with wireless and/or cellular networking capabilities that allow the computing devices to retrieve webpages, stream audio and/or video, share desktops and/or user interfaces (UIs), and/or transfer files wirelessly among one another.
However, network and/or cellular connectivity from a portable electronic device may be affected by the external environment of the portable electronic device. For example, cellular reception on a mobile phone may vary based on the proximity of a cellular tower to the mobile phone, obstructions between the mobile phone and the cell site, connections between other mobile phones and the cellular tower, and/or weather conditions near the mobile phone and/or cellular tower. In turn, fluctuations in cellular reception on the mobile phone may result in dropped calls, slow connections, and/or other adverse effects.
Consequently, use of portable electronic devices with cellular networking capabilities may be facilitated by techniques for improving the transmission and reception of signals between the portable electronic devices and cellular networks to which the portable electronic devices are connected.